It was a dreary afternoon when two celestials touched down on a rooftop to discuss the apocalypse.

Gabriel checked his watch as his counterpart landed opposite him. "Good to see you, Lucy. You're five minutes late as always."

She folded her midnight wings. "It's been five hundred years since we last talked, and you're worried about five minutes?"

Gabe pointed to a small table by the edge of the roof. "Care to sit? I brought coffee."

Lucy scoffed but sat down anyway, setting a large paper bag down on the center of the table. "Look at you," she sneered. "Wearing a watch, bringing coffee. You're practically human."

Gabriel took the chair across from her. "You're one to talk, flying in here with a newspaper under one arm, an iPod in your pocket, and what's in the bag?"

She groaned and folded her arms across her chest. "Muffins. And I only have the iPod because it's a hassle to fly my choir of the damned around."

"Sure," said Gabe, turning in his chair to peer down at the humans milling about the streets below.

"Whatever." She picked a muffin out of the bag and slapped her newspaper down on the table. "Have you seen the headlines? It's like one of my boys is off his leash."

Gabe twisted back to her and shot her an icy glare. "Is he?"

"Relax." She reached under her shirt and pulled out a necklace. Four miniature figures dangled from the chain. "They're all still locked up. But the humans seem to be heading towards the end. It's time we help them along."

Gabe took a furious bite of his muffin. Which was quite a feat, really, it was hard for anyone to look furious and imposing while eating a chocolate chip muffin but he pulled it off.

"Not yet," he said, standing to lean over the railing at the edge of the rooftop. Squinting down at the mass of humanity beneath him, a thousand stories flooded his mind.

A young person in a yellow jacket walked a three legged dog down the street. The dog couldn't see that its owner had spent most of their life savings to spare it from cancer, but Gabriel did.

Across the street, people shied away from a man bedecked in dark leather and metal studs. They didn't see how many donations he made to charity. They didn't see how he loved people even more than heavy metal, but Gabriel did.

Outside a coffee shop, a woman met with her parents for the first time in years. There was an awkward comment about a new haircut, a question over the pink, yellow, and blue pin on her lapel, and a revelation that had been kept secret for too long. The woman's parents wrapped her in a hug. They couldn't quite see how much their love and support meant, but Gabriel did.

He turned back to Lucy. "Let's circle back in another five. I think that everything will work out just fine."